PhD topic at KAI Job in Villach, Austria

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PhD topic at KAI Job Description

PhD topic at KAI: Material behaviour of semiconductor devices during real time operation – Method Development and Verification

Innovative semiconductor solutions for energy efficiency, mobility and security

Do you want to rise to the challenges of modern society and shape the technology of tomorrow? Then start with Infineon today! With 26,000 employees around the world, we're improving energy efficiency, enabling new mobility concepts and ensuring security in a digital world - by using innovative semiconductor and system solutions to steer the world towards a better, sustainable future.

For that we need: 
Great passion. Amazing ideas. First-class skills. You.

Job Description:

Infineon Technologies Austria in Villach aims to improve its products, in terms of thermo-mechanical robustness by optimization of design and materials. In cooperation with the KAI competence centre in Villach a group of international researchers work on the characterization of materials and the development of material models. It is planned to extend the competencies towards material behavior by a PhD project in cooperation with the Erich Schmidt Institute / Montan University Leoben. 

The metallization stack of a modern power device is basically a compound of brittle dielectric layers (oxide or nitride based glasses) and ductile metals (aluminum, copper), with connecting wires bonded on top of the stack, surrounded by a visco-elastic mold-compound (silica-enforced epoxy). Due to the mismatch in thermal expansion of different materials, the semiconductor is exposed to excessive mechanical stresses and hence deformation, degradation and destructive forces. The evolution of the thermal field due to a switching operation and its consecutive rise of mechanical stresses in thin films necessitates investigations on test structures on device level. 

The offered PhD topic incorporates: 

• Development and analysis of test structures with respect to their mechanical and thermo-mechanical behavior during real time operation
• Heating-experiments in combination with nanoindentation and analysis of test structures with an ultrafast thermo camera to derive the change of mechanical material properties during thermal cycling
• Identification of mechanical failure modes during switching processes in the thin films of a next generation power semiconductor

• Earliest starting date: April 2013
• Work time: full time position (38.5 hrs/week)

PhD topic at KAI Job Requirements

Candidate Profile:

• University degree in physics or material science
• Interest in experimental methods and their development
• Experience in material characterization and/or thin films are beneficial
• Basic knowledge of semiconductor processing is desired
• Self-motivated team player with good communication skills, pioneering spirit and energy
• Good English is mandatory, knowledge of German beneficial

PhD topic at KAI Application Information

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PhD topic at KAI Summary

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